Power crisis — be practical — act JR likeby E. Carlo FernandoEx-Consulting Engineer, CEBThe Accelerated Mahaweli Hydro Power Projects were planned to meet peak loads. In this plan thermal power is to be provided for base load. Coal was selected for th

Power crisis — be practical — act JR like
by Ananda S Wijayarathne
The Accelerated Mahaweli Hydro Power Projects were planned to meet peak loads. In this plan thermal power is to be provided for base load. Coal was selected for this purpose because it is the cheapest, most reliable and practical source of energy for Sri Lanka. In contrast oil is the most expensive fuel and unreliable. The oil producing region the Middle East is most volatile as today’s Gulf War shows.
In the CEB’s attempt to go in for coal power, Norochcholai was selected for the project by certain Engineers in the CEB who did not have anything to do with the coal power study at that time. As consultant to the CEB who monitored these studies all throughout, I disagreed with this unsuitable site.
Rightly the President CBK cancelled this site in 1998. The Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe too cancelled this site in March, 2002. These cancellations have been made on the very adverse coal shipping problems No...